Egypt finish flawless, as DR Congo bounce back

After Group B earlier in the day, Group A wrapped up its final matches of AFCON 2019 on Sunday, with Egypt and DR Congo winning their respective clashes.

At the Cairo International Stadium, hosts Egypt faced off against Uganda, who were unable to match the quality of performance produced by the Pharaohs all through the game.

Mohamed Salah opened the scoring after 36 minutes, his second goal of the tournament so far, while Aston Villa right-back Ahmed El Mohamady made it 2-0 moments before the break.

The Cranes, who already had 4 points from their previous two games, had little to fight for against the home side, who were backed by more than 70,000 supporters in the stands.

However, Egypt failed to improve their lead more than 2-0 despite a pacy push, especially towards the end of the game, thanks to Uganda’s solid back half.

Egypt thus finished the group stage without a defeat or a draw, recording nine full points on top of Group A.

In the other match of the group played at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo, DR Congo, whose campaign had been in shambles, scored four unanswered goals against Zimbabwe to end the series with three points and keep hope of progressing alive.

Jonathan Bolingi gave the Leopards a dream start in the 6th minute, when his solo effort paid off. Cedric Bakambu of Chinese club Beijing Guoan scored two more goals while Britt Assombalonga sealed the drubbing with a 78th minute strike.

As things stand, Egypt and Uganda are through to the next round while DR Congo are second on ranking of third-placed teams.